JP2010092176A - Information processor and operation method for the information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably continue copying snapshot difference data while efficiently using a storage area in a copy source and a copy destination. <P>SOLUTION: The information processing apparatus includes: a remote copying processing part 214 copying, at predetermined time intervals, difference data of a D-VOL 72 onto a different D-VOL 72 via a communication interface; and a failover processing part 215 acquiring the number of other auxiliary volumes 74 provided to be added to the different D-VOL 72 as a new D-VOL 72 when the copying of the difference data of the D-VOL 72 onto the different D-VOL 72 is completed, comparing the number of other auxiliary volumes 74 with the number of auxiliary volumes 74 included in itself, and performing a failover process of switching a function of a copy source of the remote copying processing part 214 to a function of a copy destination thereof when the difference exceeds a predetermined threshold and the number of other auxiliary volumes 74 is larger than the number of that in itself. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an operation method of the information processing apparatus, and in particular, a technique for reliably continuing data copy processing of snapshot difference data while efficiently using a storage area at a copy source and a copy destination. About.

  As a function of the storage system, a function of providing a state (hereinafter referred to as “snapshot”) at a certain point in time for an operating volume (hereinafter referred to as “active volume”) in response to a request from a user or the like. (Hereinafter referred to as “snapshot function”). In this snapshot function, data for reproducing a snapshot at a certain point in the operation volume (hereinafter referred to as “differential data”) is usually referred to as a volume different from the operation volume (hereinafter referred to as “differential volume”). )), And in response to a request from the user or the like, it is realized by a method of reproducing a snapshot at a certain point of time based on the data of the current operation volume and the difference data saved in the difference volume. .

  On the other hand, in order to reduce or eliminate the risk of data loss due to disasters, etc. for sites storing a large amount of data such as data centers, another data storage area is provided at a location physically separated from the site A site is established, the two are connected by a communication network, and data stored in a data center or the like is periodically copied to the storage area of the other site to be duplicated (hereinafter such data is used). The copy process is referred to as “remote copy.” In addition, when referring to a device or the like at a location where the original data is stored, “local” is used to indicate a device or the like at a location where the data copy is stored. Will be distinguished from "Remote".)

The first-mentioned snapshot is also an object of this remote copy process (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As a technique for surely performing a remote copy of a snapshot, a technique for preventing a capacity shortage of a differential volume that stores differential data at a copy destination is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2007-310631 A JP 2006-119688 A

  For example, when a hardware failure or the like occurs in the local site system, a failover process is adopted in which the system is automatically switched to the remote site system in a predetermined procedure in order to continue the operation of the system. When the remote copy of the snapshot is performed between the local and remote sites, there is a problem that a difference occurs in the capacity of the differential volume between the local and remote sites. For example, if a volume managed by hardware thin provisioning (Thin-provisioning) is assigned to a differential volume, it will be allocated if dynamic storage cannot be allocated due to a temporary hardware failure. Only the storage area can be used, which leads to a shortage of differential volume capacity. When such a state occurs at the local site, a difference in the differential volume capacity occurs between the local and remote sites, which triggers a failover.

  In addition, in the local site, when the operation for improving the use efficiency of the storage system, for example, the operation of moving the data stored in the volume with a large unused area to the volume with a smaller capacity is performed, the data Due to the movement, there is a possibility that the capacity of the differential volume will be insufficient. Also in this case, a difference in the difference volume capacity occurs between the local and remote sites, which triggers failover.

  Such a shortage of differential volume capacity is handled by adding an unallocated spare volume as a differential volume, but there may be a difference in spare volume capacity between the local and remote sites. In this case, there is a problem that a difference volume may not be added at a site having a smaller spare volume capacity.

  The difference in spare volume capacity may be caused by a hardware failure, for example. Alternatively, if the operation is independent between the local and remote, and the addition of volumes is performed individually, there may be a difference in the number of spare volumes.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus and an operation of the information processing apparatus that can reliably continue data copy processing of snapshot difference data while efficiently using a storage area at a copy source and a copy destination It aims to provide a method.

  One of the aspects of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned and other problems is that the plurality of logical volumes are connected to an external device so as to be communicably connected to a storage apparatus that provides a plurality of logical volumes. P-VOL used for data input / output and D-VOL for storing differential data generated by updating the data of the P-VOL in order to reproduce a snapshot which is the state of the P-VOL at a certain point in time , And a spare volume that can be additionally assigned as the D-VOL and managed, and the P-VOL can be accessed respectively, and the external device communicates with the file system. And an information processing apparatus having the communication interface of the D-VOL at a predetermined time interval. A data copy processing unit that copies to another D-VOL outside the storage apparatus via the communication interface, and a process in which the data copy processing unit copies differential data of the D-VOL to the other D-VOL Is completed, the number of other spare volumes provided to be added as a new D-VOL to the other D-VOL is obtained, and compared with the number of spare volumes that it has. The data copy processing unit determines that the number of the other spare volumes is greater than the number of its own spare volumes. A failover processing unit for performing a failover process for switching the function of the process copy source to the function of the copy destination.

  In addition, the problems disclosed by the present application and the solutions thereof will be clarified by the column of the best mode for carrying out the invention and the drawings.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably continue the data copy process of the snapshot difference data while efficiently using the storage area at the copy source and the copy destination.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1A shows a hardware configuration of an information processing system 1 described as an embodiment. As shown in the figure, the information processing system 1 includes a server device 10, a storage device 20, a host / client device 30, and a LAN switch 40. The host / client device 30 and the server device 10 are communicably connected via a communication network 50. The two server apparatuses 10 are communicably connected via the communication network 51. Each server device 10 is connected to a storage device 20, one of which functions as a local site and the other as a remote site, thereby duplicating data stored in the storage device 20.

  The communication network 50 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network). The communication network 51 is, for example, the Internet. The server apparatus 10 and the storage apparatus 20 are connected by a SAN (Storage Area Network) configured using, for example, a fiber channel (not shown). Note that the communication network 50 and the communication network 51 are connected via communication devices such as routers and switches (not shown).

  The host / client device 30 is a computer (information processing device) such as a personal computer or a workstation. The server device 10 provides the storage area of the storage device 20 to the client device 30 in response to a request sent from the client device 30. The server device 10 is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) that functions as a file server for the host / client device 30. The server device 10 receives an I / O request (data write request, data read request) transmitted from the client device 30 and writes data to or reads data from the storage device 20. In addition, the server device 10 appropriately transmits a data write completion report, read data, and the like to the client device 30.

  The LAN switch 40 is an interface that is provided between the server device 10 that is a NAS and the host / client device 30 and connects a file sharing system, which will be described later, to the communication network 50 (LAN). By mapping a plurality of LAN ports to one IP address allocated to the file sharing system, the bandwidth is increased or decreased according to the load of the IP address.

  FIG. 1B shows an example of a computer that can be used as the server device 10 or the client device 30. The computer 100 includes a central processing unit 101 (for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit)), a main storage device 102 (for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory)), an auxiliary storage device. 103 (for example, a hard disk), an input device 104 (for example, a keyboard or a mouse) that accepts user operation input, an output device 105 (for example, a liquid crystal monitor), and a communication interface 106 (for example, NIC (Network)) that realizes communication with other devices Interface Card) and HBA (Host Bus Adapter)).

  The storage device 20 provides the storage area used by the client device 30. The storage device 20 communicates with the cache memory 21 and the server device 10, writes / reads data to / from the cache memory 21, and writes / reads data to / from the cache memory 21. A disk controller 23 for writing or reading data to or from the hard disk 24 is included. The storage apparatus 20 operates the hard disk 24 by a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) method.

  FIG. 2 shows functions of the server device 10. Note that the functions shown in the figure are realized by the CPU 11 of the server device 10 executing a program stored in the memory 12 or the hard disk 13, or by functions originally provided in the hardware of the server device 10. . Among the functions shown in the figure, the file sharing system 211 shares data stored in a storage area provided by the storage device 20 in units of files or directories (folders) to devices connected to the communication network 50. Realize the mechanism to do. Specific examples of the file sharing system 211 include NFS (Network File System) and CIFS (Common Internet File System).

  The file system 212 realizes a function for allowing a device connected to the communication network 50 to access data stored in a storage area provided by the storage device 20 in file units or directory units (folder units). Specific examples of the file system 212 include a UNIX (registered trademark) file system and a Windows (registered trademark) file system. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that one or more file systems 212 functioning independently of each other are realized in the server device 10.

  The file system 212 manages information for realizing the above mechanism (hereinafter referred to as file management information 310). For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, a UNIX file system manages a super block 3101, a directory entry 3102, an i-node table 3103, and a data block 3104 as the above information. Of these, the super block 311 manages the size of the storage area, the size of the free area, and the like that are the management targets of the file system 212. As shown in FIG. 3B, the directory entry 312 manages the correspondence between the file name (directory path name 3121) and the i-node number 3122. As shown in FIG. 3C, in the i-node table 313, information (owner 3132) for specifying the owner of the file in association with the i-node number 3131, the access right 3133, the file size 3134, the storage location of the file ( The address of the data block 314 in which the file data is stored is managed.

  The LVM 216 (LVM: Logical Volume Manager) shown in FIG. 2 is logically based on a logical unit (LU: Logical Unit) which is a unit of a logical storage device provided by the storage apparatus 20. A logical volume (Logical Volume (hereinafter referred to as LV)) serving as a storage area is provided to an upper layer such as the file system 212. That is, the LVM 216 has a function of making a logical unit (LU) available as a logical volume (LV) and a function of a device driver for writing or reading data in block units with respect to the logical volume (LV). A logical unit (LU) is a unit of a storage area that an initiator can specify as a target in, for example, SCSI (SCSI: Small Computer System Interface) or ATAPI (Attachment Packet Interface) standards. The data block addresses 3135, 3136, and 3137 in the i-node table 313 described above are block addresses of the logical volume (LV). The operating system 217 performs data input / output control of the server device 10.

  As will be described later, it is referred to as a primary volume (hereinafter referred to as P-VOL 71 (P-VOL)) and a differential volume (hereinafter referred to as D-VOL 72 (D-VOL)) in the snapshot function. ) Is realized in units of LV. FIG. 3D summarizes the above contents, and explains how a storage area is provided from the storage apparatus 20 to the host / client apparatus 30 outside the figure.

  As shown in the figure, the LVM 216 provides in advance a P-VOL 71 and a D-VOL 72, as well as a spare volume 74 to be added when the capacity of the D-VOL 72 becomes insufficient. The V-VOL 73 is a snapshot that can only be read and is obtained by combining the P-VOL 71 and the D-VOL 72.

  The server device 10 provides the host / client device 30 with access to a storage area in units of files via an IP address 217 assigned in advance. Here, the resource group collected in units of IP addresses is referred to as a resource group RG (RG: Resource Group). Each resource group RG is assigned a plurality of LAN ports 218 in accordance with the data input / output load for the IP address 217 and the like. Resources necessary for providing the host / client device 30 with a file sharing function include an IP address 217 and a file system 212. Failover processing between the server apparatuses 10 installed at the local site and the remote site is performed in units of this resource group.

  The snapshot processing unit 213 illustrated in FIG. 2 executes various processes related to the snapshot function. Here, the snapshot function is a function that provides a state at a certain point of time for the logical volume (P-VOL 71) in operation (this is referred to as a snapshot) in response to a request from a user or the like. The snapshot function can manage snapshots for a plurality of generations (the state of the P-VOL 71 at a plurality of different time points).

  The snapshot processing unit 213 receives a snapshot acquisition request transmitted from the client device 30, acquires a snapshot at a certain point in time, receives a snapshot reference request, provides a snapshot to the client device 30, and snapshots Is deleted. Here, the acquisition of the snapshot means saving the block data updated in the P-VOL 71 (hereinafter referred to as difference data) to the D-VOL 72. The provision of the snapshot means that the state of the P-VOL 71 at a certain past time point is reproduced based on the current data of the P-VOL 71 and the difference data saved in the D-VOL 72. The deletion of the snapshot means deletion of the difference data to be deleted from the D-VOL 72.

  As shown in the figure, in addition to the above functions, the snapshot processing unit 213 has functions of a D-VOL extension processing unit 2131, a write request processing unit 2132, a read request processing unit 2133, and a snapshot acquisition processing unit 2134. Have.

The D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 receives a request from the remote copy processing unit 214, which will be described later, and performs processing for adding a spare volume selected in a predetermined procedure as a D-VOL and expanding the capacity of the D-VOL.
The write request processing unit 2132 performs processing according to the above level when writing from the client device 30 to the P-VOL 71 occurs.
When there is a snapshot reference request from the client device 30, the read request processing unit 2133 performs processing for providing a snapshot to the client device 30 according to the above level.
When there is a snapshot acquisition request (request to start acquisition of a snapshot for a specific P-VOL 71) from the client device 30, the snapshot acquisition processing unit 2134 performs a snapshot according to the above level. Perform processing related to acquisition.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the snapshot processing unit 213 manages a snapshot management table 2135, which is a table for managing information related to snapshots. In the snapshot management table 2135, replication (CoW: Copy On Write) by writing to the data block of the P-VOL 71 is managed for each generation of snapshots.

  The snapshot corresponding to each generation is managed by data stored in the P-VOL 71, data stored in the D-VOL 72, and information managed in the snapshot management table 2135. As shown in FIG. 4A and the like, the snapshot management table 2135 includes a CoW bitmap 21352 and information (here, snapshot name 21353) for identifying each snapshot in association with the block address 21351 of each data block. It is managed. The CoW bitmap 21352 is composed of a number of bit strings corresponding to each generation of snapshots that can be acquired. In the following description, each bit corresponds to the first generation and the second generation in order from the most significant bit (leftmost bit).

  The remote copy processing unit 214 performs a process of periodically copying and duplicating data stored in the storage apparatus 20 to which the server is connected between the local and remote site server 10 in units of RG. The remote copy processing unit 214 includes a remote copy request processing unit 2141, a remote copy response processing unit 2142, and a level determination processing unit 2143.

The remote copy request processing unit 2141 receives a remote copy request from the server device 10 at the local site, and based on the information about the difference data of the snapshot notified from the local site, the remote copy request P-VOL 71 and D-VOL 71 and D- A process of updating the data stored in the VOL 72 is performed.
The remote copy response processing unit 2142 performs remote copy processing for each RG according to the level according to the determination result of the level determination processing unit 2143 described later. Depending on the RG level determination result, the remote copy process itself may not be executed.
The level determination processing unit 2143 sets a level that is information for determining the remote copy processing content to be executed for each resource group RG of the server device 10.

  The failover processing unit 215 includes a monitoring / switching processing unit 2151. The monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 performs processing for mutually monitoring the number of spare volumes between the server devices 10 at the local site and the remote site. Further, in response to a request from the remote copy response processing unit 2142, failover processing is performed in units of RG between the server apparatuses 10.

  Next, a snapshot management method performed by the snapshot processing unit 213 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4D, taking as an example a case where data writing to the P-VOL 71 occurs. In the following description, it is assumed that both P-VOL 71 and D-VOL 72 have 8 data blocks, the number of snapshot generations that can be managed is 4, and the CoW bitmap 21352 is composed of 4 bits. It shall be.

  FIG. 4A shows the state of the P-VOL 71, D-VOL 72, and snapshot management table 2135 (hereinafter referred to as the initial state) before data is written to the P-VOL 71. As shown in the figure, in the initial state, “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” are assigned to the data blocks 21352 corresponding to the block addresses 0 to 7 (block address 21351) of the P-VOL 71, respectively. ”,“ E ”,“ F ”,“ G ”, and“ H ”are stored. Since no snapshot has been acquired in the initial state, nothing is stored in each data block of the D-VOL 72 (for example, a space or NULL is stored). Each bit of the CoW bitmap 21352 of the snapshot management table 2135 is 0, and nothing is stored in the snapshot name 21353 (for example, a space or NULL is stored).

  FIG. 4B shows a state after receiving an acquisition request for the first snapshot (snapshot name 21353 = “SS-1”) from the client apparatus 30 in the initial state of FIG. 4A. As shown in the figure, the most significant bit (leftmost bit) of the CoW bitmap 21352 corresponding to each block address 0 to 7 is set to 1. No snapshot name 21353 is stored because no snapshot is actually acquired.

  FIG. 4C shows a state after the data blocks of the block addresses 0 to 4 of the P-VOL 71 are updated with “a”, “b”, “c”, “d”, and “e” in the state of FIG. 4B. is there. As shown in the figure, the old data “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and “E” stored in the block addresses 0 to 4 are stored in the block addresses 0 to 4 of the D-VOL 72. Stored (saved) in data block. Since the first generation snapshot is acquired (data necessary for the D-VOL 72 is saved), the most significant bit (leftmost bit) of the CoW bitmap 21352 is set (reset) to 0. Since all the bits of the CoW bitmap 21352 are 0, no snapshot is acquired even if the data of the P-VOL 71 is updated in this state. In the “SS-1” column of the snapshot name 21353, the old data “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “E” save destination D is associated with each block address 21351. -The block address “0”, “1”, “2”, “3”, “4” of the VOL 72 is set.

  FIG. 4D illustrates the processing of the snapshot processing unit 213 when there is a first generation snapshot reference request from the client device 30 in the state of FIG. 4C.

  First, the snapshot processing unit 213 acquires data stored in the data block of the block address 0-4 of the D-VOL 72 in order to generate a snapshot of the data block of the block address 0-4. Note that the snapshot processing unit 213 confirms that the first generation snapshot of the data block with the block address 0-4 exists in the D-VOL 72, and that the “SS-1” in the snapshot name 21353 of the snapshot management table 2135 exists. Refer to the contents to understand. Next, the snapshot processing unit 213 acquires data from the data block of the P-VOL 71 for the data block of the block address 5-7. The snapshot processing unit 213 generates a snapshot of the entire P-VOL 71 by combining the data of the block address 0-4 acquired from the D-VOL 72 and the data of the block address 5-7 acquired from the P-VOL 71. The generated snapshot is transmitted to the request source (client device 30).

  The case where there is a first generation snapshot acquisition request has been described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4D, but the same processing is performed when there is a second generation to fourth generation snapshot acquisition request.

  Next, snapshot remote copy processing will be described with reference mainly to FIGS. 5 to 5C. As described above, in the server device 10 at the local site, snapshots are periodically generated according to the time interval set by the user. In this snapshot remote copy process, the difference between the snapshots is extracted and the copy process to the server device 10 at the remote site is performed. The difference data size between individual snapshots depends on the size of the file update performed by the user within the snapshot acquisition time interval. Accordingly, the amount of transfer data in the remote copy process and the time required for the remote copy process also change.

  First, in the server device 10 at the local site and the remote site, the snapshots of both are synchronized by the initial copy. Here, it is assumed that both snapshots are synchronized in a state where the first generation snapshot “SS-1” is acquired (the state illustrated in FIG. 4B above).

  FIG. 5A shows a state in which the second generation snapshot “SS-2” is generated by the update in the server device 10 at the local site. FIG. 5A shows a state after the data blocks of the block addresses 0 to 4 of the P-VOL 71 are updated with “x”, “y”, “c”, “d”, and “e” in the state of FIG. 4B. is there. As shown in the figure, the old data “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and “E” stored in the block addresses 0 to 4 are stored in the block addresses 0 to 4 of the D-VOL 72. Stored (saved) in data block. Since the second generation snapshot is acquired, the most significant bit (leftmost bit) corresponding to the block addresses 0 to 4 of the CoW bitmap 21352 is set (reset) to 0. Further, since no difference occurs (no data is updated), all the second-order bits (second bit from the left) of the CoW bitmap 21352 are set to 1. In the “SS-2” column of the snapshot name 21353, the old data “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “E” save destination D is associated with each block address 21351. -The block address “0”, “1”, “2”, “3”, “4” of the VOL 72 is set. At this time, since the update has not yet been reflected in the snapshot at the remote site, the state of FIG. 4B remains as shown in FIG. 5B.

  Next, when the first remote copy processing is executed after the update at the local site, the remote copy processing unit 214 in the server device 10 at the local site sends the remote copy processing unit 214 of the remote site server device 10 to the remote copy processing unit 214. Requesting the transmission of the snapshot management table 2135 to obtain it. The remote copy processing unit 214 at the local site compares the acquired remote site snapshot management table 2135 with its own. In the example of FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the most significant bit of the CoW bitmap 21352 is compared in block address order for the first generation snapshot “SS-1”, the block addresses 0 to 4 are inconsistent. This shows that there was data update. The difference data is “x”, “y”, “c”, “d”, “e” stored in the block addresses 0 to 4 of the D-VOL 72. Next, when the second most significant bit (second bit from the left end) of the CoW bitmap 21352 is examined in the order of addresses, no CoW is generated due to data update, so the second generation snapshot “SS-2 It can be seen that no difference data has been generated. The difference data extracted by the server device 10 at the local site is notified to the server device 10 at the remote site.

    In the server device 10 at the remote site, the remote copy processing unit 214 sets the block addresses 0 to 4 of the P-VOL 71 to “x”, “y”, “c”, “d”, based on the notified difference data. It is updated to “e”, the most significant bit of the CoW bitmap 21352 is set to 0, and the second generation snapshot “SS-2” is acquired. Since there is no data update for “SS-2”, 1 is set in the second bit of the CoW bitmap 21352 (FIG. 5C).

  Next, the definition of the RG level that is a criterion for changing the content of the remote copy process applied to each RG will be described. This RG level is defined for the purpose of determining how important the data input / output being executed for each RG is. By objectively determining the importance of each RG according to this level definition, it is determined in what form the remote copy processing is executed for each RG. A mode is selected so that the copy process can be surely continued, and an option such that the remote copy process is not performed in some cases is selected for an RG that is not so important.

In the present embodiment, the following three items are adopted as determination criteria for determining the level of each RG.
(1) Bandwidth of IP address assigned to each RG The bandwidth assigned to the IP address 218 of each RG is obtained by examining the number of LAN ports 219. As the number of LAN ports 219 increases, a wider band is allocated, and it is estimated that the RG is a highly important RG having a large use scale.
(2) Number of file systems in RG The number of file systems set in each RG is obtained, and it is estimated that the larger the number of file systems, the larger the size of file sharing and the higher the importance.
(3) Number of users By acquiring the number of users of each RG, it is estimated that the larger the number of users, the larger the file sharing scale and the higher the importance.

In the present embodiment, according to the above three items, the level of each RG is defined in three stages as follows.
Level 1: 0 <number of LAN ports ≦ 2 and 0 <number of file systems ≦ 5 and 0 <number of users ≦ 10
Level 2: 2 <number of LAN ports ≦ 5 and 5 <number of file systems ≦ 20 and 10 <number of users ≦ 50
Level 3: 5 <number of LAN ports ≦ 10 and 20 <number of file systems ≦ 30 and 50 <number of users ≦ 200

  Note that the RG level determination criterion items and level definitions are not limited to the exemplified items and ranges, and other appropriate criteria and ranges can be adopted. The level definition is recorded as a level definition file, for example, in the remote copy processing unit 214.

Next, a table referred to in the present embodiment will be described.
First, the RG management table 600 will be described. FIG. 6 shows an example of the RG management table 600. This RG management table 600 is for managing the state of each RG that the server device 10 has. The RG management table 600 includes the RG name 601, the current level 602, the date and time 603 when the current level was applied, and the state of each level. The cumulative time 604, the IP address 605 assigned to the RG, and the file system name 606 included in the RG are recorded.

  The RG name 601 is a unique code assigned to identify each RG. The current level 602 is the latest level determined for the RG. As will be described later, the level of each RG is periodically determined by a level determination processing unit 2413 in the remote copy processing unit 214 of the server device 10.

  The date and time 603 when the current level was applied records the time when the most recent level change has occurred for the RG. The accumulated time 604 that has been in the state of each level records, for each level, the accumulated time in which the RG is determined to be each level 1 to 3 based on the date and time 603. The IP address 605 assigned to the RG is referred to by the level determination processing unit 2143 when acquiring the number of LAN ports included in the RG. The file system name 606 included in the RG records the file system name that each RG has, and the volume used by each RG can be known using this as a key.

  Next, the file system management table 700 will be described. FIG. 7 shows an example of the file system management table 700. The file system management table 700 manages the file system of the server apparatus 10 in association with the volumes used by each, and includes a file system name 701, a P-VOL name, and a volume name 702 to which the file system belongs. A D-VOL name, a volume name 703 to which the D-VOL name belongs, and a D-VOL remaining capacity 704 are recorded.

  The file system name 701 is a unique code assigned to identify each file system in each server apparatus 10. The P-VOL name and the volume name 702 to which the P-VOL name belongs, and the D-VOL name and the volume name 703 to which the P-VOL name belongs belong to the P-VOL 71 and D-VOL 72 used by each file system, and they correspond to each other. An identification code representing the volume is recorded. The D-VOL remaining capacity 704 records the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 used by each file system in MB units.

  Next, the spare volume management table 800 will be described. FIG. 8 shows an example of the spare volume management table 800. This spare volume management table 800 is for managing the spare volume 74 that can be added to the D-VOL 72 possessed by each server device 10, and records a volume name 801, a volume capacity 802, and an allocation state 803. ing.

  The volume name 801 is an identification code given to each volume set in the storage apparatus 20 connected to each server apparatus 10, and the volume capacity 802 indicates the capacity of these volumes in MB units. An allocation status 803 indicates whether each volume has been allocated to the D-VOL 72. If “not yet completed” is recorded in the allocation state 803, it is understood that the volume is the spare volume 74.

  Next, the remote copy setting management table 900 will be described. FIG. 9 shows an example of the remote copy setting management table 900. This remote copy setting management table 900 manages, for each RG, whether the server apparatus 10 at the local or remote site is the primary side or the secondary side in the remote copy process. The RG name 901 and its RG Is recorded with a primary server name 902 and a secondary server name 903 when remote copy processing is performed. When the failover process is executed for each RG between the server devices 10 at the local site and the remote site, the primary side and the secondary side of the RG are switched, so the failover processing unit 215 performs this remote copy setting management table. 900 is updated.

    Next, a processing flow executed in the remote copy control apparatus according to the present embodiment will be sequentially described with reference to the drawings.

== Level judgment processing ==
FIG. 10 shows a flow of RG level determination processing executed by the level determination processing unit 2143 in the remote copy processing unit 214 of the server apparatus 10. The level determination process is a process of periodically determining the level of each RG in the server device 10 at the local or remote site in order to execute an appropriate remote copy process for each RG.

When the process is started, the level determination processing unit 2143 checks whether or not the level determination has been completed for all RGs, and if it has been completed, the process is ended as it is (Yes in S1001). Note that the letter S added to the head of the code indicating each process represents “step”.
If an RG whose level is not determined remains (S1001, No), the next RG is selected (S1002), and the characteristic information of the RG is acquired (S1003). In the present embodiment, the level determination processing unit 2143 communicates with an appropriate information collection program (not shown) installed in the server device 10 to communicate the characteristic information (here, for example, the number of LAN ports, the number of file systems, and the user). Is a number.)

  Next, the obtained characteristic information of the RG is compared with the level definition in the level definition file to determine the level of the RG (S1004). The determined level is compared with the current level 602 of the RG in the RG management table 600. If it is determined that there is a level change (S1005, Yes), the record in the RG management table 600 is updated (S1006). If it is determined that there is no level change (No in S1005), the process returns to step S1001 for determining whether or not there is an RG to be determined.

== Remote copy request processing ==
FIG. 11 shows a flow of remote copy request processing executed by the remote copy request processing unit 2141 in the remote copy processing unit 214 of the server apparatus 10. The remote copy request processing is processing for requesting remote copy processing for each RG at a predetermined time interval in accordance with a command from a higher-level OS or application. In this embodiment, the remote copy request processing is performed from the server device 10 at the remote site. However, the server device 10 may be activated from the local site.

  When the remote copy request processing unit 2141 in the server device 10 at the remote site starts processing, it first transmits the snapshot management table 2135 held by itself to the server device 10 at the local site (S1101). It waits for the result processed by the server device 10 to be transmitted (S1102). When the processing result from the local site server apparatus 10 is received (S1102, Yes), the data of the P-VOL 71 and D-VOL 72 are updated in order to update the snapshot of the RG in the remote site server apparatus 10 according to the processing result. Update and exit.

== Remote copy response processing ==
FIG. 12 shows a flow of remote copy response processing executed by the remote copy response processing unit 2142 in the remote copy processing unit 214 of the server apparatus 10. In this embodiment, the remote copy response process is a process for acquiring a processing request from the remote copy request processing unit 2141 in the server apparatus 10 at the remote site, that is, receiving the remote snapshot management table 2135 as a trigger. This process is executed by the device 10. As described above, the roles of the local site and the remote site may be interchanged.

  When starting the processing, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 waits for a processing request to be received from the server device 10 at the remote site (reception of the remote-side snapshot management table 2135) (S1201). When received (S1201, Yes), the current level 602 recorded for the RG is acquired with reference to its own RG management table 600 (S1202).

  Next, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 performs preprocessing according to the acquired RG level (S1203), executes processing according to the result of the preprocessing (S1204), and ends the processing flow. The contents of processing according to these RG levels will be described later.

== Process by RG level ==
FIG. 13 shows a processing flow of processing by RG level according to the RG level determined by the remote copy response processing unit 2142. This processing flow is executed continuously when it is determined that the RG level is level 1 and the pre-processing corresponding to the RG level, which corresponds to the processing for changing the contents of the remote copy processing thereafter based on the RG level determination result. Processing. The processing contents of level 1 are shown in FIG. 14 together with a schematic explanatory diagram for easy understanding.

  In the processing at level 1, remote copy processing is executed until the capacity of the D-VOL 72 used by the RG is used up (until the remaining capacity falls below a certain threshold). In this case, it may be configured to repeatedly use (wrap around) while overwriting the same D-VOL, and stop the remote copy process when it is repeatedly used a predetermined number of times.

  When starting the process, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 first acquires the current level 602 recorded for the RG for which the remote copy process is requested from the RG management table 600, and the level of the acquired RG is 1. Is determined (S1301). If the RG level is not 1 (No in S1301), it is determined whether the RG level is 2 (S1309) or 3 (S1311), and if it is determined that each level is applicable (S1309 or S1311). Yes), the remote copy process corresponding to each level is executed (S1310 or S1312), and the process ends.

  Note that if the acquired current level cannot be determined as any of levels 1 to 3, some problem may have occurred, such as the fact that there is a record in the RG management table 600 or the like. It is conceivable to incorporate a process of passing the process to another functional block of the server device 10 and notifying the user of a warning.

  If it is determined that the level of the RG is 1 (S1301, Yes), the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 used by the RG is calculated. For the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72, refer to the file system name 606 recorded in the RG management table 600 and the remaining capacity 704 of the D-VOL 72 for each file system recorded in the file system management table 700. Can be calculated.

  In the processing corresponding to level 1, the content of the remote copy processing to be executed is changed according to the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72. That is, three threshold values for the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72, the first threshold value to the third threshold value are set as data in the processing program in advance, and these threshold values and the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 are set. Corresponding remote copy processing is performed according to the comparison result. In the present embodiment, the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is set to decrease in the order from the first threshold value to the third threshold value (threshold values B to D). Whether to set with a set value may be determined as appropriate.

  First, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 determines whether the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is equal to or less than the first threshold and greater than the second threshold, and if a determination to that effect is made (Yes in S1303). The remote copy response processing unit 2142 outputs a warning message to the user that the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is low through the output device 105 or the like (S1304). In this case, the remote copy process for the RG is executed as usual.

  If it is determined that the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is equal to or smaller than the first threshold and not larger than the second threshold (No in S1303), then the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is equal to or smaller than the second threshold. If it is determined whether or not it is larger than the third threshold value and a determination to that effect is made (S1304, Yes), the remote copy response processing unit 2142 receives some data from the recorded D-VOL 72 of the snapshot. The data is erased to increase the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72, and a warning message to the effect that a part of the data in the D-VOL 72 is erased is output to the user through the output device 105 or the like (S1306). Also in this case, the remote copy process for the RG is executed as usual. In order to increase the remaining capacity, which snapshot data is to be erased (for example, from a new snapshot or an old snapshot) may be determined and set appropriately in advance.

  If it is determined that the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is equal to or smaller than the second threshold and not larger than the third threshold (No in S1305), then the calculated remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 is equal to or smaller than the third threshold. If it is determined that there is a determination (S1307, Yes), the remote copy response processing unit 2142 cancels the remote copy processing for the RG and notifies the user via the output device 105 or the like to the D-VOL 72. An error message indicating that the remote copy process has been canceled because the remaining capacity is insufficient is output (S1304). Also in this case, the remote copy process for the RG is executed as usual. In order to increase the remaining capacity, which snapshot data is to be erased (for example, from a new snapshot or an old snapshot) may be determined and set appropriately in advance.

  If it is determined that the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 used by the RG does not correspond to any of the above conditions (No in S1307), the remote copy response processing unit 2142 ends the processing corresponding to level 1.

  According to the processing corresponding to RG level 1, the capacity of the D-VOL 72 can be effectively used while continuing the remote copy processing for each RG.

  Next, processing when the RG is determined to be level 2 will be described. FIG. 15 shows a processing flow executed in the case of level 2. In order to facilitate understanding of the processing contents, FIGS. 16A to 16B are schematic explanatory diagrams showing an outline of the processing.

  As shown in FIG. 13, when it is determined that the RG level requested from the server device 10 at the remote site is level 2, the processing of the remote copy response processing unit 2142 is the level 2 processing ( Move to S1310).

  First, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 searches the RG management table 600 and the file system management table 700 (S1501). At this time, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 extracts the RG determined that the current level 602 is level 2, acquires the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 for each RG by referring to the file system management table 700. , The cumulative time at level 3 and the cumulative time at level 2 are acquired from the cumulative time 604 recorded in the RG management table 600 at each level.

  Then, the acquisition results are sorted in ascending order of remaining D-VOL capacity. If the D-VOL remaining capacity is equal, the higher cumulative time that was level 3 in the past is set as the higher rank. Furthermore, when the cumulative time of level 3 is equal, the one with the shortest cumulative time of level 2 is ranked higher. FIG. 16A shows an example of the list table for each RG acquired and sorted in this way.

  The remote copy response processing unit 2142 determines an RG to be failed over with reference to the list table (S1502). The determination procedure is as follows. First, a lower limit value is set for the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 in advance, and an RG having a remaining capacity smaller than the set lower limit value is set as a failover target. Then, when there are a plurality of RGs having the same remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 among the targeted RGs, based on the accumulated time of the level 2 and the level 3, the RGs higher in level are set as failover targets. decide.

  In this way, by setting a lower limit value for the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72, it is possible to eliminate an RG that leaves no room for the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 after failover processing. Further, since the priority of the RG having a longer cumulative time that was Level 3 in the past is made higher, the failover process is preferentially executed for the RG having a longer period that has been determined to be higher in the past. The If the cumulative time of level 3 in the past is equal, priority is given to RG with a short cumulative time of level 2, so the judgment level is temporarily changed from high to low (from level 3 to level 2). It is possible to avoid an excessively low evaluation.

  Next, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 passes the processing to the monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 of the failover processing unit 215 that actually executes the failover processing (S1503) and ends.

  By executing the processing corresponding to level 2 above, when the number of spare volumes 74 for each RG at the local site and the remote site is unbalanced, the number of spare volumes 74 on the primary side is assigned with priority. Can be.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 16C and 16D, a process for adding a volume from the spare volume 74 to the D-VOL 72 may be executed after performing a failover process according to a predetermined procedure. When the D-VOL 72 is expanded in this way, the priority is lowered in the search result of the process for selecting the failover target RG. As a result, the RG is excluded from the failover target, and the opportunity to be subsequently subject to the failover process is reduced.

  Next, processing when the RG is determined to be level 3 will be described. FIG. 17 shows a processing flow executed in the case of level 3. In order to help understanding of the processing contents, FIG. 19 shows a schematic explanatory diagram showing an outline of the processing.

  As shown in FIG. 13, when it is determined that the level of RG requested from the server device 10 at the remote site is level 3, the processing of the remote copy response processing unit 2142 is the level 2 processing ( The process moves to S1312) in FIG.

First, the remote copy response processing unit 2142 acquires the remaining capacity of the D-VOL 72 used by the RG with reference to the RG management table 600 and the file system management table 700 (S1700). Then, a predetermined threshold value (threshold value A) is compared with the remaining capacity, and if it is determined that the remaining capacity is equal to or less than the threshold value (S1701, Yes), in order to increase the allocated capacity of the D-VOL 72 Then, the process shifts to a D-VOL extension process, which will be described later, and ends (S1702).
If it is determined that the acquired remaining capacity is greater than the threshold value (S1701, No), it is determined that there is no need to increase the capacity of the D-VOL 72, and the process ends.

  According to such level 3 processing, it is possible to secure a sufficient capacity of the D-VOL 72 for remote copy processing for an RG determined to have high importance.

== D-VOL extension processing ==
18A and 18B show a processing flow by the D-VOL extension processing unit 2131 that is activated when a predetermined condition is satisfied in the level 3 processing flow. This processing is executed by the D-VOL extension processing unit 2131 in the remote copy processing unit 214 of each server device 10 and executed in cooperation between the server devices 10 having the primary side RG and the secondary side RG. Therefore, FIG. 18A shows the processing flow on the primary side, and FIG. 18B shows the processing flow on the secondary side. This D-VOL expansion process is performed when the process for adding the spare volume 74 to the D-VOL 72 is executed after the failover process in the level 2 process is executed, as described with respect to the level 2 process. Can also be applied.

  First, processing on the primary side will be described with reference to FIG. 18A. The D-VOL extension processing unit 2131 waits for a processing request from the remote copy response processing unit 2142 (S1801, No), and when the processing request is acquired (S1801, Yes), searches the remote copy setting management table 900. (S1803), it is determined whether or not it is the primary side 902 by recording the items of the primary side 902 and the secondary side 903 (S1803).

  When it is determined that it is not the primary side 902 (S1803, No), the process proceeds to the secondary side 903 described later (S1804).

  When the primary side 902 is determined (S1803, Yes), the D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 is in an unallocated state with reference to the spare volume management table 800 held by its own server device 10. -All the volume names 801 that can be used as the VOL 72 are acquired (S1805). Next, a request is issued to the D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 in the secondary server apparatus 10 to acquire the spare volume name 801 with reference to the spare volume management table 800 (S1806).

  Next, the backup volume name 801 acquired from the secondary side is received and compared with the backup volume name 801 acquired by itself, and the backup volume 74 to be added as the D-VOL 72 is determined. In the present embodiment, as the spare volume 74 to be added, the spare volume 74 having the same capacity and the maximum capacity as a result of comparison is selected. This is for the purpose of expanding the D-VOL 72 to the maximum and preventing the capacity of the D-VOL 72 from becoming unbalanced between the primary side and the secondary side.

  Next, the D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 requests the secondary D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 to add the selected spare volume 74 and expand the D-VOL 72 (S1808). Then, the selected spare volume 74 is also added (S 1809), “Done” is recorded in the corresponding allocation state of the spare volume management table 800, and the D-VOL name and the volume name 703 and D of the file system management table 700 are recorded. -The update which changes the VOL remaining capacity 704 is performed and it complete | finishes (S1810).

  Next, processing on the secondary side will be described with reference to FIG. 18B. The D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 on the secondary side determines whether or not there is a request for acquiring the spare volume 74 name list from the primary side (S1851), and when the request is acquired (Yes in S1851), its own spare volume management table 800. And a spare volume name 801 that can be used in an unallocated state as the D-VOL 72 is acquired (S1852), and this is transmitted to the primary D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 (S1853).

  Next, the D-VOL extension processing unit 2131 determines whether or not there is a D-VOL extension processing request from the primary D-VOL extension processing unit 2131 (S1854). If there is a request (S1854, Yes), the spare volume 74 selected by the primary-side D-VOL expansion processing unit 2131 is added to the D-VOL 72 (S1855), and the corresponding allocation state of its own spare volume management table 800 is set. “Done” is recorded, the D-VOL name, the volume name 703 to which the file system management table 700 belongs, and the update that changes the remaining D-VOL capacity 704 are performed, and the process ends (S1856).

== Monitoring / switching process ==
20A and 20B show a processing flow executed by the monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 of the failover processing unit 215 in each server device 10 at the local site or the remote site. In this process, the number of spare volumes 74 between the local or remote site server apparatuses 10 is monitored, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, a failover process is performed for each RG between the local or remote site server apparatuses 10. Execute. FIG. 20A shows a processing flow on the primary side, and FIG. 20B shows a processing flow on the secondary side because the processing is executed in cooperation between the server devices 10 having the primary side RG and the secondary side RG. .

  First, processing on the primary side will be described with reference to FIG. 20A. The monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 waits for a processing request from the remote copy response processing unit 2142 (S2001, No), and when the processing request is acquired (S2001, Yes), searches the remote copy setting management table 900. (S2002), it is determined whether or not it is the primary side 902 by recording the items on the primary side 902 and the secondary side 903 (S2003).

If it is determined that it is not the primary side 902 (S1803, No), the process proceeds to the secondary side 903 described later (S2004).
If it is determined that it is the primary side 902 (S2003, Yes), the monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 refers to the spare volume management table 800 held by its own server device 10 and is in an unallocated state. All the volume names 801 that can be used as the VOL 72 are acquired (S2005). Next, a request is issued to the monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 in the secondary server apparatus 10 to acquire the spare volume name 801 with reference to the spare volume management table 800 (S2006).

  Next, the spare volume acquired from the secondary side when the remote copy processing between the local and remote site server apparatuses 10 is executed periodically and the snapshots are synchronized between the two. The name 801 is received and compared with the spare volume name 801 acquired by itself, and the difference between the numbers of the two spare volumes 74 is calculated. The difference between the calculated number of spare volumes 74 and a preset threshold value are compared, and it is determined that the difference is larger than the threshold value and the number of spare volumes 74 on the secondary side is larger. In the case (S2008, Yes), after notifying the secondary server apparatus 10, a failover process is executed and the process is terminated (S2009).

  Next, processing on the secondary side will be described with reference to FIG. 20B. The monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 on the secondary side determines whether or not there is a request for acquiring the list of spare volume 74 names from the primary side (S2051). By searching, a spare volume name 801 that can be used in an unallocated state as the D-VOL 72 is acquired and transmitted to the primary side monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 (S2052).

  The monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 determines whether there is a takeover processing request accompanying the failover processing execution from the primary-side monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 (S2053). If there is a request (S2053, Yes), the takeover process is executed (S2054), and the remote copy setting management table 900 of its own is updated and the process ends (S2055).

  When there is no acquisition request for the spare volume 74 name list from the primary side (No in S2051), the secondary side monitoring / switching processing unit 2151 monitors the spare volume management table 800 on the primary side (S2056), and reserve volume 74 It is determined whether there is any additional (S2057). If the spare volume 74 is added as the D-VOL 72 (S2057, Yes), the corresponding spare volume 74 is also added in the server device 10 of itself, and the own spare volume management table 800 and the file system management table 700 are stored. Update and end (S2058).

  As described above in detail, according to an embodiment of the present invention, remote copy processing of snapshot difference data can be reliably continued while efficiently using storage areas at the copy source and the copy destination. There is an effect.

It is a figure which shows the hardware of the information processing system. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computer that can be used as a server device 10 and a host / client device 30. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating main functions of the server device 10. FIG. 3 is an example of file management information 310; 4 is an example of a directory entry 312. It is an example of an i-node table 313. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configuration of a server device 10 and a storage device 20. FIG. FIG. 3 is a first diagram illustrating a process performed when a snapshot is acquired. FIG. 6 is a second diagram illustrating a process performed when acquiring a snapshot. FIG. 6 is a third diagram illustrating a process performed when a snapshot is acquired. FIG. 9 is a diagram (part 4) for explaining the processing performed when acquiring a snapshot; FIG. 10 is a first diagram illustrating a snapshot remote copy process; FIG. 9 is a second diagram illustrating snapshot remote copy processing; FIG. 6 is a third diagram illustrating snapshot remote copy processing; It is an example of the RG management table 600. 4 is an example of a file system management table 700. 4 is an example of a backup volume management table 800. 4 is an example of a remote copy setting management table 900. It is a flowchart explaining the level determination process of RG. It is a flowchart explaining a remote copy request process. It is a flowchart explaining a remote copy response process. It is a flowchart explaining the process corresponding to the pre-process and level 1 which are performed according to the level of RG. It is a schematic diagram explaining the process corresponding to level 1. FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the process corresponding to level 2. FIG. It is an example of a table used for selecting an appropriate RG as a target of failover processing from level 2 RGs. FIG. 3 is a first schematic diagram for explaining processing corresponding to level 2; FIG. 3 is a second schematic diagram for explaining processing corresponding to level 2; FIG. 6 is a third schematic diagram illustrating processing corresponding to level 2; FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram 4 for explaining processing corresponding to level 2; It is a flowchart explaining the process corresponding to level 3. FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the D-VOL expansion process by the primary side. It is a flowchart explaining the D-VOL expansion process by the secondary side. It is a schematic diagram explaining the process corresponding to level 3. FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the monitoring / switching process by the primary side. It is a flowchart explaining the monitoring / switching process by the secondary side.

Explanation of symbols

1 Information processing system 10 Server device 20 Storage device 30 Host / client device 40 LAN switch 71 P-VOL
72 D-VOL
74 Backup Volume 75 File System 211 File Sharing System 212 File System 213 Snapshot Processing Unit 2131 D-VOL Extension Processing Unit 214 Remote Copy Processing Unit (Data Copy Processing Unit)
2143 Level determination processing unit 215 Failover processing unit 2151 Monitoring / switching processing unit 600 RG management table 700 File system management table 800 Spare volume management table 900 Remote copy setting management table

Claims (10)

Connect to a storage device that provides multiple logical volumes,
The plurality of logical volumes;
Stores differential data generated by updating the P-VOL data in order to reproduce a P-VOL used for data input / output with an external device and a snapshot of the P-VOL at a certain point in time A D-VOL and a spare volume that can be additionally allocated as the D-VOL and managed, and each of the P-VOL can be accessed by the file system,
An information processing apparatus comprising a communication interface for the external device to communicate with the file system,
A data copy processing unit that copies the difference data of the D-VOL to another D-VOL outside the storage device via the communication interface at a predetermined time interval;
Provided to be added as a new D-VOL to the other D-VOL when the data copy processing unit completes the process of copying the difference data of the D-VOL to the other D-VOL. The number of other spare volumes is obtained and compared with the number of spare volumes that the self has, the difference between the two exceeds a predetermined threshold, and the number of other spare volumes is A failover processing unit for performing a failover process for switching the copy source function of the data copy processing unit to the copy destination function when it is determined that the number is larger than the number of spare volumes. An information processing apparatus characterized by that. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The processing of the data copy processing unit and the failover processing unit is executed for each logical volume group used by the file system associated with each communication address assigned to the communication network. Information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
When it is determined that the number of spare volumes owned by itself is greater than a predetermined value when the failover process is completed, a new spare volume selected by the predetermined procedure from the spare volumes owned by itself is newly added to the D- An information processing apparatus that is added as a VOL and notifies the information processing apparatus that has newly been copied to that effect. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
Applying a predetermined reference value to the level of importance of each logical volume group in units of logical volume groups used by the file system associated with each network address, the data depending on the result of the level division An information processing apparatus that changes contents of copy and failover processing. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4,
A predetermined reference value applied for leveling each logical volume group includes the number of users of each network address associated with each logical volume group, and the file associated with each logical volume group. An information processing apparatus comprising either the number of systems or the number of communication ports assigned to each network address. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4,
When it is determined that the degree of importance of each logical volume group is the highest by applying the predetermined reference value with the logical volume group used by the file system associated with each network address as a unit, the logical volume group The remaining capacity of the D-VOL included in the volume group is acquired and compared with a predetermined threshold A defined for the remaining capacity, and it is determined that the acquired remaining capacity of the D-VOL is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold A. In this case, the information processing apparatus is characterized in that a spare volume included in the logical volume group is newly added as a D-VOL. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4,
When it is determined that the importance of each logical volume group is the lowest by applying the predetermined reference value with the logical volume group used by the file system associated with each network address as a unit, the logical volume The remaining capacity of the D-VOL included in the volume group is acquired and compared with a predetermined threshold B defined for the remaining capacity, and it is determined that the acquired remaining capacity of the D-VOL is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold B. An information processing apparatus that suspends the data copy processing for the logical volume group in the case of being performed. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7,
For the remaining capacity of the D-VOL, a threshold C that is larger than the predetermined threshold B is further defined, and the remaining capacity of the D-VOL included in the logical volume group is acquired and the remaining capacity is defined. When it is determined that the remaining capacity of the acquired D-VOL exceeds the predetermined threshold B and is equal to or lower than the threshold C in comparison with the predetermined thresholds B and C, the data recorded in the D-VOL An information processing apparatus that executes data copy processing for the logical volume group after deleting a part thereof. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,
For the remaining capacity of the D-VOL, a threshold D that is larger than the predetermined threshold C is further defined, and the remaining capacity of the D-VOL included in the logical volume group is acquired and the remaining capacity is defined. Compare with predetermined threshold values C and D, and execute data copy processing for the logical volume group when it is determined that the remaining capacity of the acquired D-VOL exceeds the predetermined threshold value C and is equal to or less than the threshold value D An information processing apparatus that notifies the administrator that the remaining capacity of the D-VOL is low. Connect to a storage device that provides multiple logical volumes,
The plurality of logical volumes;
Stores differential data generated by updating the P-VOL data in order to reproduce a P-VOL used for data input / output with an external device and a snapshot of the P-VOL at a certain point in time A D-VOL and a spare volume that can be additionally allocated as the D-VOL and managed, and each of the P-VOL can be accessed by the file system,
An operation method of an information processing apparatus provided with a communication interface for the external device to communicate with the file system,
At a predetermined time interval, the difference data of the D-VOL is copied to another D-VOL outside the storage device via the communication interface,
Provided to be added as a new D-VOL to the other D-VOL when the data copy processing unit completes the process of copying the difference data of the D-VOL to the other D-VOL. The number of other spare volumes is obtained and compared with the number of spare volumes that the self has, the difference between the two exceeds a predetermined threshold, and the number of other spare volumes is When it is determined that the number is larger than the number of spare volumes, a failover process is performed to switch the copy source function of the data copy process to the copy destination function of the data copy processing unit.
An operation method of an information processing apparatus characterized by the above.